Pickled oysters with wild garlic oil
by
- Snack
- Medium
- Makes 8 oysters
- 1 hour 20 minutes
PT1H20M
Oysters are often served raw, shucked fresh and slurped straight from the shell. In this recipe, chef Will Devlin gently poaches them in a water bath before quick-pickling them in some seasonal infused vinegars, finished with a drizzle of bright green wild garlic oil.
You will need to make the vinegars a few weeks in advance, but they're an excellent way of preserving springtime flavours of wild garlic and chive flower, which you can then use year-round.
Ingredients
Vinegars
- 500ml of apple cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar
- 1 handful of wild garlic leaves
- 1 handful of chive flowers
Oysters
- 8 oysters , as fresh as you can get – Will uses Whitstable oysters
- 2 tbsp of runny honey
- wild garlic flowers , to garnish (optional)
Wild garlic oil
- 100g of wild garlic leaves
- 100g of rapeseed oil, or vegetable oil
Equipment
- Sous vide equipment
- Blender
Method
1
Will uses two types of infused vinegar to pickle his oysters, which are easy to create at home but do need at least a few weeks to infuse. Divide the vinegar between 2 sterilised containers (such as a bottle or jar). Make sure the wild garlic leaves and chive flowers are washed and dried thoroughly, then submerge them in the 2 vinegars to create a wild garlic vinegar and a chive flower vinegar. Seal and set aside for at least 2 weeks to infuse – they will last indefinitely, so if you have a lot of wild garlic or chive flowers it’s a good idea to make more so you can use them in other dishes
- 500ml of apple cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar
- 1 handful of wild garlic leaves
- 1 handful of chive flowers
2
The day before you plan to serve, make a wild garlic oil. Blend the wild garlic leaves and oil in a Thermomix at 75°C for 6 minutes (alternatively, use a regular high-powered blender and blitz for 8 minutes, as the friction of the blades will naturally heat up the oil). Line a sieve with a piece of muslin cloth (or a j-cloth) and place it over a bowl. Pour the oil into the cloth, then place in the fridge to strain overnight
- 100g of wild garlic leaves
- 100g of rapeseed oil, or vegetable oil
3
On the day you plan to serve, preheat a water bath to 60°C
4
Shuck the oysters, saving as much of the liquor as possible. Clean out the shells and put to one side for serving. Place the oysters (along with any reserved liquor) in a vacuum bag and seal, then cook in the water bath for 20 minutes. Once cooked, transfer the bag to a bowl of iced water to chill immediately and halt the cooking process
- 8 oysters , as fresh as you can get – Will uses Whitstable oysters
5
Make a pickling liquor by combining 100ml of both the chive flower vinegar and the wild garlic vinegar, then mix in the honey. Tip the oysters and their juices out of the vacuum bag into the vinegar mixture, then leave to pickle for 30 minutes
- 2 tbsp of runny honey
6
To serve, return each oyster to a cleaned shell. Drizzle over plenty of the wild garlic oil and garnish with wild garlic flowers(if using)
- wild garlic flowers , to garnish (optional)
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Pickled oysters with wild garlic oil
